Do you have something you remind yourself of everyday? My business partner has a saying above his desk. Is says:
Just for Today: I will not worry, I will not be angry, I will do my work honestly, I will give thnaks for my many blessings I will be kind to every living thing
He reminds himself of this everyday. Its’ an affirmation. I have listened to lots of Tony Robibns cds and he uses affirmations.
“Everyday in every way my life gets better and better”
-is one of them. He says you can subsitute the “my life” bit with anything really. Like my health, my attitude, my fitness, my body, my money.
She says “It is believed that the action of repeating the sounds, or sentences, over and over again helps the nervous system regulate. If the phrase has a personal meaning it may also have a stronger psychological impact because it can be used to reinforce a belief..”
I have used affirmations for a long time now. I am always amazed at how it works. I find it helps me to focus on what I want in a positvie way by making a positive statement about what I want in my life or what I want more of.
How can you use it with your business?
Easy, what doy you want? Every day I make a sale. Every day I receive great feedback. I am a successful ……. (whatever you are), I have fun every day, I am financially successful and enjoy being able to pay for everything I need to, I recieve cheques/money daily, I am so grateful that I am well paid and that I am appreciated..
How do you make these affirmations up?
Use positive words like grateful, great,I am statements are good. I know its hard to make a statement like I am financially successful when you are not. But you can start by saying –I am looking forward to the day I am financially successful, I am making decisions today that are garanteeing my financial success, I know that finanical success is important to my future and I am making positive steps to ensure this happens soon, I see the evidence of money coming into my account regularly and I this gets bigger and bigger.
If you want to have a healthier body you could say things like: Every day my body gets slimmer because I make healthy choices and get regular exercise. Soon you will be looking at food differently and fining opportunities to get regular exercise.
Have good things happened to me because of these affirmations I use?
Absolutely, I find the best statements I make are the ones where I have the most trouble believing. I focus on areas where I still hold on to negative beliefs. These positive statements then replace these old negative beliefs to remind me I am not limited by what is sometimes my reality.
Knowing where to start when you have a home business is not always about just selling a product. Its all the tasks that need to be done in order to sell that product. For that you need a To-Do-List. Having a diary of some sort in business is essential. Over the years I have found I have moved from a paper diary to online diaries because I use my phone for everything these days and it is less bulky.
Google has a great diary app for smart phones that will sink with your home computer. You will always know what appointments you have. Now you have a diary your need a to-do-list because you can use your diary to plan your day by allocating times in your day to do things on your to do list. Without a list you will flit from one idea to the next and find you are not being very effective. Here’s how an efffective to do list works.
To-do-list Step 1- choose a medium
If you like to use paper and pen then making a list is going to work for you. If you like to use an electronic system (Try the TIMELY app) you will find there are lots of options. Just choose one and get started.
Step 2 -analyse the list
When you do your first ever list just do a dump of all you can think of. Then once you have made your list check it over and write beside each:
Do immediately-If a task feeds my priorities, my time is justified.
Delegate- Someone else can and should do these to save me time. Even micro-business owners can benefit from an intern or temp.
Drop- ask yourself,“will this make money for me right now or anytime in the future? Does it fulfil my current priorities?”If the answer is no, dump it.
Defer -Some items might appeal but aren’t time-sensitive or high-priority. Delay them to a more convenient time.
You may now have to start your list again. This is where an electronic system will save you time but if you don’t have one just get on and make your new list. See the next step about how to do this.
Step 3- Prioritise the list
This is your main list and will be added to from time to time that will be the basis for your daily to-do-list. You will need 2 columns. Column 1 sets its priority and the second one lists the task.
Stephen Covey developed a quadrant into which to priories your tasks.
Urgent and important
Important but not urgent
Urgent but not important
Not important and not urgent
Go here to read more about that: https://www2.usgs.gov/humancapital/documents/TimeManagementGrid.pdf
Step 4- Write today’s to-do list
Once you have your master list you can write todays list. Have 2 columns. The first column will have a number in it to indicate in which order you will do the tasks. The second column will be the task. Any tasks you don’t get done today need to be transferred to tomorrows list at the end of the day. You can add to tomorrows list from the main list. Be realistic and always refer back to step 2 and 3 when deciding what goes onto the main list and the daily list.
You would be amazed at how much you know and that somewhere someone wants to know what you know. If you haven’t taken the time to identify all the things you are good at then I urge you to do it now. Here’s something I know about myself:
I am good at drawing out of poeple what they need. I am a good listener and love to hook people up with information so they can get what they want. I don’t always just hand them the answer. I make suggestions and give them direction.
In my work as an Educational Kinesiologist I take people through a series of movements to work out what is blocking them from getting what they want. The body has amazing biofeedback through the muscles (called muscle checking) and this is accurate if you know how to do it right. By doing this muscle checking I can help them make mental and physical adjustments which when rechecked show that a change is what is needed and where it is needed. Cool aye! I use my skill to make money.
I get the word out about my skills through word of mouth, Facebook and email. I have spent time researching (learning) how to market my business and turn what I love to do into a business.
What are you good at? How can you use that to make money?
Its not always easy to belive in yourself but with the right support you can make a mental shift (minsset) and you can be very successful. I surround myself with people who will support my learning and mindset (collaboration). I belong to an online community of people who are all learning to promote themselves and be successful. We have awesome mentors and their energy helps keep me going. I am not standing still. I am moving, learning and collaborating.
Are you sending the right message on your digital media, in your sales pitch and advertising?
Way too many people talk way too much about themselves rather than about the benefits of the customer dealing with them. So have a look at your website what are you doing on your website. Are you telling everyone that you’ve been in business for 83 years? (… and seriously who cares except maybe you and your mother) or when I’m visit you online am I discovering what it’s like to do business with your business.
Am I finding out the sort of results that I might get, the value that might accrue to me when I actually invest some time to work with you? You see, what customers really care about are those results. What they really care about is- how am I going to improve, how is my situation going to be improved, how is my business going to be improved as a result of your product or service and as a potential customer?
I’m going to believe your existing customers before I’ll believe you. That’s why when I go to your website and I look at your other marketing collateral or when I’m visited by one of your sales people, what I really want to see is how does this work. I want to see case studies, I want to see testimonials, I want to hear your customers talking to me about why you’re so great. But more importantly what that means to me.
So put your customer eyes on here and take a look at all of your marketing collateral and start with your website make sure that you’re not just telling us how wonderful you are, how long you’ve been in business, make sure that when I leave that page I’m really clear on where the value to me is as a customer. And when you do that I get a much better picture of what it’s like to do business with you and that helps me make a better decision about becoming one of your customers.
Video: Courtesy of Panalitix Proprietory Ltd via the Taxman Ltd. Panalitix produce these wonderful short videos. To subscribe to the Elevate EMagazine produced by Panalitix email us at info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz and put Subscribe to Elevate e-zine and we wil get you on the list.
Kerri Bainbridge
One half of the Anywhere Team NZ
Collaboration, Mindset, Learning
Did you find this useful? info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz
In my last blog I highligheted the growing trend towards snack size information dominating the way we communicate. Is this a good thing or bad thing? I guess its irrellevant but what is important is how we communicate. By better understanding both positive and negative consequences, we can make better decisions about our own communication choices.
Here is a recap of what Snackification is:
What are the Positive aspects
It’s Fast and Efficient
Have you ever sent a text to a friend to say “I’m here”? You are waiting in the car for them and you cant be bothered talking to her husband or interacting with her kids, you just want to get going so you wait for her in the car. Texting is the most-used data service in the world; and when you factor in apps such as Messenger and WhatsApp, we send 80 billion messages a day. We send transactional texts to avoid explanations or long conversations. Texts are less intrusive and we can get right to the point. Snackified communication is faster.
It’s Genuinely Persuasive
Furthermore, exactly because it is less intrusive, this type of communication needs to be concise and compelling. In today’s world we are all competing for attention. Not only do we have to compete with a barrage of other quick communications, we also compete with other activities. We use our mobile devices to communicate while driving or walking, while at a party, or dinner or work. So if we want to cut through the clutter of a constant stream of communications, our messages need to be clear, concise and compelling.
So how do you gain attention and ensure that your message resonates?
You make it informal and appealing, so it’s easy to consume. A communication snack uses short sentences. It uses contractions, emoticons and image stickers to create colorful, casual messages. And it’s exactly this appealing, fun, authentic voice that can be quite compelling.
What are the Negative aspects?
Are we trading empathy for efficiency?
Snackified messages are so condensed and informal that they often fail to convey the intended emotional meaning and instead create more misunderstandings. And when we consider the overwhelming amount of electronic exchanges we have, some of which are with people we’ve never met in person or have never even had a phone conversation with, this just increases the chances of misinterpretation.
Written messages don’t carry the tone, pitch or emphasis of our voice, which can make it quite difficult to determine if someone is being e-serious or e-sarcastic, or if a person is just e-busy and not e-angry. When we don’t hear a voice or see a face, or fully understand the context of written words, we are bound to make incorrect assumptions, which in turn negatively impact how we view others.
Are We Now More Separate and Alone?
When you look at Facebook do you find yourself comparing your life with others? Do you get anxious finding just the right words so someone doesnt take offense. These are the impacts of this type of communication that we need to be aware of for our lives and the lives of our kids. It can affect your self esteem to think others are leaving you out or doing better than you.
Summary
There is no doubt that snackified communication is here to stay, and that it has definite advantages. We are able to stay in touch easily, letting loved ones know they are on our minds. We can get information to people quickly and efficiently. And sometimes it’s just plain fun. But as studies show, we have to be aware of its drawbacks and make necessary adjustments.
One adjustment you can make to counter this is to specifically express our emotions, like “I was sad …” or “I am surprised …,” and if necessary before hastily and negatively responding, clarify a confusing message by asking, “Here’s what I got … is that what you meant?”
Secondly, a little face-to-face time without digital devices goes a long way toward reducing emotional misinterpretation and increasing empathy. People will get a sense of the type of person you are and you them from these exchanges, no matter how brief, which will help them determine what sort of meaning is behind the words.
Interestingly, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researcher, Sherry Turkle, who studies how technology influences relationships, wrote a popular book titled Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. She says we learn to develop empathy and intimacy through in-person conversations “where we learn to make eye contact, to become aware of another person’s posture and tone, to comfort one another and respectfully challenge one another.” Don’t be put off by “the boring bits” and awkward silences in a conversation, she cautions. “If the conversation goes quiet, you have to let it be. For conversation, like life, has silences. It is often in the moments when we stumble, hesitate and fall silent that we most reveal ourselves to one another,” she writes in a 2015 New York Times editorial titled “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.”
“It is often in the moments when we stumble, hesitate and fall silent that we most reveal ourselves to one another.”— SHERRY TURKLE
There is no doubt in my mind that communiction with family and friends is being affected as well. Unfortunately, and because our technology is almost always with us, we have fewer of these types of meaningful conversations. One thing we can do for ourselves and our children is to schedule “digital holidays” or attend phone-free events.
Finally, Turkle also stated that “One start toward reclaiming conversation is to reclaim solitude. Some of the most crucial conversations you will ever have will be with yourself. Slow down sufficiently to make this possible. ” I think we all need solitude from time to time in this age where we are seemingly always in demand.
Summary- Finding a Healthy Balance
We need to communicate facts clearly and concisely, but we also need to communicate emotion accurately, and develop healthy, supportive, interpersonal relations. This can’t be done through snackified communication alone. Like a healthy diet, our communication must be balanced. And just as we see a new trend in snacks becoming more healthful, I am hopeful that understanding the influence of snackified communication will move us in a healthier direction.
Our business won a blogging competition in 2017 so we decided to do a blog on how to do a blog! The blogs we write firstly built on the principle of servant leadership- that is, putting the interests of others first.
When I do a blog I am mindful of 3 things:
1. My target market (learning)
2. Whether the content is interesting
3. To spur a call to action
The reasons why I use the digital bloggers platform are:
1. The ease of use
2. The common values I have with the community (collaboration)
3. The collective power of blogging as a community allows greater reach
4. Development of our brand!
Lastly, when I write a blog I want people to learn and be inspired (mindset). The blogs that I write have a lot of myself in them, my values, the values of our business and positive movement forward! After all Anywhere Business Network has its “why statement”:
Why We Do What We Do:
We wake up in the morning wanting to inspire people and their communities to make a difference.
Small businesses are the core of communities.
We are passionate that collaboration, mindset and learning are key to small business success.
If you are not enjoying your home office space at then moment then its time to do a bit of homework and look at remodeling the space or spaces you have. If you dont then it could be wrecking your mindset and making you unproductive. Think about it. If you are always grumbing about the limitations of your workspace then you are already having negative feelings for it. Here are examples:
If you are constantly interrupted by family and friends, neighbours, chores, animals…….
If your space is shared by others during the day
If it is unorganised and cluttered. Maybe you dont have the right systems in place. You can have great storage if you take the time to find out what is avaiable. (in fact we can help Organise You)
If you are feeling cramped and the area is hard to move in
Here are a couple of things to do right now.
Sit back now and imagine what you would like your office to look like
Think about where it would be
Draw it or write down what you want.
Was the office in your home or did you see it outside the home? Just because you work for yourself doesnt mean that you have to or should work from home. I know its cheeper but ask yourself these questions.
do you like working alone or do you miss the office enviornment so it might be better for your mindset to work in a shared office space or complex?
would you get out to see more clients if you had to put on “work” clothes to go out to an office?
would it be more professional to see clients outside the home? and if you worked outside the home, do you need to rent a space all week or could it be part of the week and share premises?
would it add more security to the home environment if clients didnt know where you lived?
would it make better sense to have an office space at home and outside the home?
You will be much more productive if you hare happy with your office environment so do some reserch, jot down some ideas and get a better understanding of how you like to work.
I read a great, well reserched article by a writer for Shopify so I recommend you take a look at this first.
Kerri Bainbridge
One half of the Anywhere Team NZ
Collaborate, Mindset, Learning
Join us on Instragram and Facebook for inspirational messages to get you in a better frame of mind for all you want to achieve.
Andrew has been working from home since 1997. I asked him how he achieves balance between his home and work life.When he set up his home office as a self-employed tax consultant he read a lot of books (LEARNING) on the home office and how should set it up.
This is what he learnt:
“I decided that I needed a number of none negotiable values to incorporate into my home office to make work successfully for me and my family:
1.SEPARATE HOME OFFICE
I needed to be able to be separate from my living space. I put up a partition in the hallway and it gave me three spaces… a reception area, an area for my computer server, stationery, printers, scanner etc and an office with lots of spare desks, room to talk to clients, work, study and concentrate. Art adorns the walls and above my main computer monitor I have the following words (MINDSET):
I will not be angry.
I will not worry.
I will be grateful and thankful.
I will do my work honestly.
I will be kind to every living thing.
2.DRESS FOR WORK
I decided I would get up, shave, shower and dress appropriately every day I was at work. My attitude is dress as I would if I had to go to work off site. The reason behind a certain dress code for office is that what you wear has an impact on how you feel. And thus one should dress up to feel charged up and stay focused.
3. SET UP MY WORKSPACE PROPERLY
I decided that I would work with at least two monitors of at least 26 inch each, I kick arse graphics card, good speakers, as much RAM as I could get with my desktop and the best connection available (currently 200/200 MPS)! In addition that the server would be updated 5 yearly! When there are no clients the music makes my day just a little brighter! AND webinars are a breeze!
4. SET OFFICE HOURS
Chores are done when I am out of office. I remember I am working from home, not for home!
5. STAY HEALTHY
I look after my health. I take regular breaks- micro pauses. I built my ergonomic setup myself as I suffered from RSI in the previous job! I also take lots of supplements for good health.
6. WORK ON MY MINDSET
I make sure that I meditate in the morning and at night, take a walk daily, do daily yoga and have a massage at least once every three weeks!”
The language of social media can be very confusing. When do you put a #hash tag and what do they mean? You may be wondering how you can ever get to grips with it. You simply need to invest time in yourself learning about it or you will just be spinning your wheels and spending time on in effective social media posts.
It wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t know anything about online marketing. In a very short space of time we now know a lot and are successfully using online marketing tool to market our businesses. Now we are asked all the time about “how do you do it?”. There are a whole generation of kids in their teens right now who wont need to ask for our help. They already know more than us. But there are many like us who didn’t have a clue where to start. Here is a summary of some of the languages of social media:
Facebook- Man, I love pizza.
Twitter- I am eating a #pizza
Youtube- How to make pizza
LinkedIn- Pizza eating is one of my many skills
Pinterest- My favourite pizza recipe
Instagram-#out for #pizza #lunchtime #restaurant #image #filter
If you are ever in a situation in your business where your revenue or profits falling year-on-year it’s really important to find out why that’s happening. You know, a common response to the question “why is your revenue fallen?” is “well it’s the economy you know it’s really tough out there” and my response to that would be “well are there any businesses out there in your industry who are actually doing quite well now?”. And what I’m looking for is what can we learn from that other people are doing and those other people of course could be your competitors.
I think it’s really important to do a periodical review of your competitors. Find out what it is that they’re doing relative to what you’re doing and maybe pick up some tips and tricks as to what you could do differently or better, to grab some market share back.
So here are five ideas that you could implement to do exactly that.
First, of all ask your team because they’re closest to the coalface they’re dealing with customers customers who probably had sought to competitive as well as your business and they’ll be able to give you some feedback as to what they’re hearing in the marketplace
Secondly, grab some promotional material some brochures any other material he can get hold of from your competitors and see what they’re doing or go to their website see what they’re promoting right now make sure that you’re on the same page as them in what they’re doing.
Thirdly, ask customers and suppliers find out where you’re better but also ask them to be honest and tell them where you’re weaker than your competitors is.
Number four, analyze your strengths and weaknesses maybe you just do a brainstorm with your whole team and list out all of the strengths you have in your business and then all of the weaknesses you have as well and then pull together an action plan of the top three items that you’re going to change
and then..
Number five, of course is most important get an action plan together and then implement that plan your account doesn’t help you with this they can do some mystery shopping for you they can do some analysis work they can facilitate workshops they can pull some reports together to help you understand how your competitors are doing relative to your business with the goal of course of improving your revenue and your profitability.
Video: Courtesy of Panalitix Proprietory Ltd via the Taxman Ltd. Panalitix produce these wonderful short videos. To subscribe to the Elevate EMagazine produced by Panalitix email us at info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz and put Subscribe to Elevate newsletter.Need more help?
What next?
If you are keen to work with other entrepeneurs, get into a different mindset, and learn the skills to make your buisness more profitable. Check out www.anywherebusinessnetwork.com
Now that the New Year is here, it is the perfect time to set goals for your business and your personal life.
If you’ve had difficulty achieving your goals in the past, maybe it was because you tried to accomplish too much at once and were overwhelmed.
This year, use these goal-setting tips, and map out a successful step-by-step plan you can easily follow:
1. Focus on one or two main goals – Choose just one or two larger goals to pursue this year. This can be difficult, but narrowing your focus is essential and will allow you to better concentrate on whichever goal(s) you choose.
2. Create subgoals – After you’ve settled on your main goal(s) for the year, it’s time to break it down into monthly subgoals to make the larger objective more manageable. Think of the most important tasks you need to accomplish to reach your main goal, and assign those tasks to each month of the year. Segmenting the process this way will help you visualise what you need to do every month to stay on track.
3. Create microgoals – Make your monthly goals more manageable by breaking them into 4 (four) microgoals, which can be thought of as weekly goals. This will help you avoid the temptation to procrastinate and leave all your subgoal duties for the end of each month. You can also segment your weekly microgoals into daily tasks so that you’ll know each day what you need to do to stay on schedule.
Remember, the key to goal setting is staying organised. Take the time to understand what you need to do every month, week and day this year in order to reach your larger goals, and then get started. Good luck!
Additional Resources: You will find both these articles really worthwhile.
How to Set Goals That Are Motivating instead of frustrating: http://on.inc.com/2ioULIL
How to Actually Reach the Goals You Set: http://bit.ly/2iC8knq
I always have my phone, so I will always have my diary and contacts which means I always have their contact details
Automatic sync between PC and smart phone, and its easy to make changes on either PC or smart phone
It is linked to Google Maps so I can find my clients easily
One of the things I blogged about recently was challenging you all about how well you stored your important data for appointments, files, and client information. I suggested you store your electronic documents and client information in the cloud. I personally use Dropbox and Evernote and when it come to my diary I am using the Google App Calendar
If you think about it, in an emergency you are not going to grab paper files and you may not have time to grab your computer. But you will grab your phone.
The reason I like the Google App Calendar is because the PC version syncs to my smart phone. I can share this calendar with colleagues or family if I need to, I can print it from my pc and on my phone I can even link it to Google Maps so I can find my clients. You can see my demonstration on the video HERE.
I would be without it. I can Go Anywhere, Be Anywhere.
I recently attended a networking seminar and wanted to share my notes with you. You may have been to networking events and come away feeling like it was a complete waste of time. I suspect that is because you haven’t mastered some key elements or understandings about what you needed to do during these events. You may even have given the wrong impression without even knowing it.
Check out our blog and video to get 5 tips for successful networking HERE.
The language of social media can be very confusing
When do you put a #hash tag and what do they mean. You may be wondering how you can ever get to grips with it. You simply need to invest time in yourself learning about it or you will just be spinning your wheels and spending time on in effective social media posts.
Online learning
If you have hooked into the online learning platform I suggested in my last blog you will be are working through the modules and attending the Marketing webinars to get a better understanding of who your market is, where they are hanging out and what they need. Plus you will be learning about the language of each social media platforms. Here is a summary of some of the languages of social media:
Facebook– Man, I love pizza.
Twitter– I am eating a #pizza
Youtube– How to make pizza
LinkedIn– Pizza eating is one of my many skills
Pinterest– My favourite pizza recipe
Instagram-#out for #pizza #lunchtime #restaurant #image #filter
Google+– I work at Google and love pizza
Follow us on social media to see examples.If you need help, check out the Digital Kickstart page on this website.
If you are new to social media or are only dabbling in Facebook you might be feeling like this topic is in the “too hard basket”. Believe me you cannot ignore it. Like anything if you want to really understand it you need to invest time in yourself to do just that. If you don’t you could end up not reaching a potential market or spending money advertising on social media targeting the wrong market or no one at all. First thing you need to know is where you target market is hanging out.
Where is my target market?
First you need to define your market. Are they male/female/ what is their age/where do they live..etc
Then you need to, based on this information, know where online they are hanging out.
If your product appeals to 60+ you will have a different strategy to those who are teenagers.
Look at this age representation of users I got from Smart Insights: this clearly shows that with audiences 18-34 yrs Snapchat has the highest audience of all the social media platforms.
You can go to The Statista Portal for more on social media trends. Take a look at this chart I took from this website:
You will find more statistics at Statista
Welcome to my first blog about working from home. I will be writing a series of blog posts about working from home and ultimately these tips will help you work from anywhere. Working for yourself can be really rewarding but frustrating at the same time. Whatever your reason for wanting to work for yourself you will need to be as disciplined as you would be if you worked for someone else about your time and productivity.
Instead of someone else setting your objectives and tasks, you have to define them. I want to share what I have learnt over the last 12 years of being in business for myself, to help you stay focused and be productive. If you are not careful you will work 24/7 (at least in your mind) and feel like you never have “time” away from the business.
I am going to cover things like goal setting, business planning, time management, customer management, social media marketing, money and lots of tools for stream lining your business.
